A New Chapter
by scribeninja
Summary: When Eric and Sookie's sex drives take a nosedive, they try to work through it together. A story in the Studybuddy-verse. O/S AH


**A/N:**

This little one-shot is the result of a conversation between NerdStud and makesmyheadspin's Caveman!Eric from her awesome story Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'. If you haven't read the conversation, you can find it here:

http:/community(DOT)livejournal(DOT)com/sookieverse_lj/16361(DOT)html

This is unbeta'd because I just wanted to get it out of my head so I can finally start on my NaNoWriMo novel. Since I didn't get the once over from my normal beta, all errors are mine and mine alone.

That said, enjoy this little glimpse into the married life of our lovely NerdStud!

* * *

Sookie and I had been married for almost three years when the spice fizzled from our sex life. It sort of coincided with me going to a mystery writer's convention and being forced to leave Sookie at home. Everything was fine, we talked on the phone as much as possible, we were still deeply in love with each other, but when I got back there was no heated "we're together again" sex. There weren't any fireworks. I just pulled into the garage, got a hug and kiss from my wife, and then we had dinner while I told her about the trip.

She said she was tired that night, so I didn't try for sex. That was a month ago, and we still haven't done it. I know, without a doubt, that she's faithful to me, and I am to her. I think the heat just went away. It had been for a while before I left as evidenced by the fact that the last dozen or so times we'd made love it was strictly missionary. We'd always been on the vanilla side of things, but never _that_ vanilla.

Part of the problem was that I just wasn't as horny as I used to be. It's not like I was having erection problems, I just had no sex drive. One night I decided to broach the subject with Sookie after I saw her drying off after a shower and _didn't_ feel the need to jump her.

"Do you think the sex has gone out of our marriage?" I asked as I lay next to her in bed while she read a book.

"Oh, thank goodness," Sookie said as she shut her book, and set it on the nightstand.

"That's an odd reaction," I said.

"I'm sorry, but I've noticed too, and I was afraid I was the only one. I don't know what's wrong with me. I still think you're the most attractive man I've ever seen, but I just don't have the same urge to jump you as I used to."

"I've got the same problem. You were naked earlier and a year ago I would have had you right there on the floor, but now? I just went to the sink and flossed."

"Do you still find me attractive?" she asked, a hint of insecurity in her voice.

"Yes, Sookie," I said, sitting up and taking her hand. "You are still the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. You're hot, and sexy, and gorgeous… I just have no libido."

"What are we going to do about this?"

"I don't know. I don't think we can force it, or we'll make it worse."

Sookie was silent for a moment, and then she looked at me with a smile.

"If you have plans this weekend, cancel them."

"Okay. What's your idea?"

"We're going to stay home all weekend. If we feel like going out, we'll do that, but I think you and I need to get back to us. We'll make a roast and watch Casablanca."

"No talk of jobs or friends."

"No phone calls or Internet."

"It sounds perfect," I sighed.

"Let's do it then."

Two days later it was Friday, and that night we went to the store together to stock up on groceries. We turned off our cell phones before we went to bed, and decided to sleep in as late as we wanted.

Sookie woke up before me and brought me breakfast in bed. We hadn't done that in a long time.

"Waffles, eggs, toast, sausage, and coffee. Herbal tea for you," she said when she set the huge tray on the bed.

"Thank you," I said, and leaned over to give her a kiss.

"So what do you think? Breakfast, then a shower together, then we can see what we're in the mood for?"

"Sounds good to me," I said as I dug into the delicious breakfast.

We did shower together after breakfast, and it was nice, but neither of us felt an urge to have sex. After the shower we put together the roast for supper and got it baking.

"How about some TV?" Sookie asked after that, and I agreed so we settled in on the couch and channel surfed until we found something decent. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and she snuggled into me. It was comfortable, and perfect, and soon enough we'd both nodded off for a nap.

"UGH!" Sookie exclaimed, making me jump awake. "I don't get it! I just woke up with my head in your lap and I still didn't get any naughty urges. We're not even 30 yet, Eric. What is wrong with us?"

"Sookie, calm down. We can't force it. Let's go check on the roast, and then we'll go for a walk or something."

She grudgingly agreed, and a few minutes later we were putting on some more presentable clothes and heading outside. We laced our fingers together as we strolled slowly through the neighborhood.

"We haven't done this in forever," Sookie sighed.

"I know. We should do it more often. The leaves will be changing soon."

"Let's go on our honeymoon," Sookie said out of the blue.

"What?"

"We said we'd get around to it, but it never happened. With work, and family stuff, then holidays, it just kept getting pushed to the side, but I think it's time. We're about to have our third wedding anniversary. Let's go away."

She had stopped walking and turned to face me, a hopeful and eager look in her eyes.

"Then let's do it. We can go to Europe, visit the museums, stay for a couple of weeks…"

"I love you," she squeaked as she jumped into my arms and wrapped hers around my neck.

"I love you too," I said.

We relaxed together for the rest of the day until it was nearly suppertime. The roast had made the entire house smell fantastic, and both of our stomachs were growling as we got the side dishes ready. I decided to surprise Sookie, so while she was getting the roast out and making our plates, I went to the dining room and lit two candles.

"A candlelit dinner?" Sookie asked as she walked in with our plates in her hands.

"I thought it would be nice. I'll go get the wine," I said, kissing her cheek as I walked past.

"This is nice," she said when we sat down on either side of our little table. We didn't see the need for a big one until we started a family.

"It is. We should do it more often."

Sookie took a bite of the roast, and the moaning noise she made took me right back to college. To a younger version of us, sitting on my couch in my apartment, making out, discovering each other's bodies for the first time.

"Jesus," I muttered when she did it again.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You look tense."

"You just moaned and it reminded me of college, and I got the urge to make out with you like we used to."

"Just make out? Not, throw me over the table and screw my brains out?"

"Just make out, but the other one sounds good too," I grinned, remembering the last time we'd don't that. It had been over a year ago.

"That's progress. I may even let you get your hand under my shirt," she winked.

"I look forward to it."

After we finished eating and cleaning up, we settled in on the couch to watch Casablanca. I was feeling relaxed from the wine, so I decided to just go for it, and I kissed her. She kissed me back slowly, letting it build, and soon enough I had her underneath me. When I noticed that she wasn't responding very enthusiastically, I pulled back and braced myself above her.

"Not into it?" I asked.

She shook her head slowly, but when I started to remove myself she grabbed my shoulders.

"Just keep going. I can tell that you're into it," she said.

"I love you for that, but I'm not going to have sex with you when I know you're not in the mood. It's okay. We'll figure it out."

With that, she burst into tears. I jumped up and grabbed a few tissues before pulling her up and into my arms. I had no idea where the tears had come from, and that scared me.

"This is how it starts," she sobbed. "We lose our sex drive, then only one of us gets it back. Then we continue not to have sex until you end up noticing other women, and then it's a year later and you tell me you've been having an affair with…"

"No," I said firmly. "There is no way in hell that will happen, and you know it. I'll wait forever for you, just like you waited for me."

She didn't say anything else, but continued to cry into my chest. I rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back while I tried to say soothing things. Eventually, she calmed down enough to fall asleep, so I carried her up to our bedroom and laid her down. I lay next to her and watched her for a while.

It broke my heart that she thought it would ever get bad enough that I would cheat, but I knew exactly how she felt. Just thinking of Sookie ever telling me that she was having an affair had the potential to send me into a tailspin of depression. It wouldn't happen though. She and I were stronger than that, and we would get through this together.

The next morning I woke to an empty bed and the smell of coffee and bacon. I rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, and as I looked at myself in the mirror while washing my hands, I had an idea. If something Sookie did took me back to our college days and gave me some of my sex drive back, then maybe I needed to do something to remind her.

I got into my bed stand and pulled out my spare glasses. I wore contacts all the time, and hadn't worn my old glasses in years. It was a bit disorienting at first, but I just knew it would work.

I went downstairs and into the kitchen, where I was met with a sight I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Sookie was cooking breakfast, and she was wearing only my sweater.

Hello sex drive, nice to see you again.

I walked up behind her and pulled her hips back into me as I kissed her neck.

"Good morning, Mrs. Northman. I love what you're wearing."

"I can feel that," she said. "I woke up and was going to shower, but then I saw your sweater and I just got the urge to wear it. I forgot how comfortable they are."

As she spoke she continued to stir the scrambled eggs she was cooking, but I had other ideas. I reached forward and turned off the burner.

"Hey," she said, finally turning to face me. Her eyes widened when she saw my glasses, and I knew she was having the same kind of moment I did with the roast.

"You're wearing your glasses," she said.

"You're wearing my sweater."

"Eric… I think I just got my sex drive back."

"I was hoping you'd say that," I said, and within seconds I had picked her up and set her on the counter. I kissed her hard, and she moaned, wrapping her legs around my waist. My hands traveled down to the hem of the sweater so I could work her underwear off, but they found none. "No panties?"

"I told you I was about to shower," she giggled.

I fell to my knees hard, which I would probably pay for later, but at that moment I didn't care. Sookie rested her thighs on my shoulders, and then I was devouring her. I had missed this. Her scent, her taste, the noises she made, the way she pulled my hair. I wanted to do it forever.

"Eric," she moaned above me. "Enough."

That was all I needed to hear. I dropped my flannel pants as I stood back up, and Sookie grabbed my ass while I positioned myself, then thrust into her. She let out a guttural noise and bit my shoulder while I stilled and panted into her hair. If it felt this amazing, it had obviously been too long.

"If you don't start moving, I'm going to push you onto the floor and do it myself," Sookie threatened after a moment.

In response, I pulled almost all the way out, and thrust back in hard. The moan from Sookie spurred me on, and I repeated the action again and again, pounding into her until I was sure we would both have bruises. It had been so long that I was ready to explode, so I reached between us and rubbed furiously at her clit.

Sookie cried out almost instantly, and as her muscles clenched around me I thrust deep one last time and ground against her as I released with what can only be described as an animalistic growl.

We clung to each other, panting, and then Sookie started giggling. Her laughter was contagious, and soon enough I was laughing too.

"Eric," she giggled. "Will you carry me upstairs so we can do that again in the shower?"

I laughed, kissed her again, kicked my pants all the way off, and carried my wife up to our shower. We had sex again in there, then we ate breakfast, napped, had sex in bed, watched some TV in the living room, had sex on the couch, ate an early supper, then there was more sex on the couch, another shower with no sex, then once more in bed before going to sleep. Talk about making up for lost time.

The next morning I was woken up by Sookie's mouth doing some very naughty things. There is literally no better way to be woken up than with a blow job. I tried to reciprocate, but she had to leave for work.

I sent her some dirty texts for a couple of hours, and then decided to get some work done. Because of all the sex we'd had, I was in a fantastic mood, and got quite a bit of work done. Before I knew it, Sookie was home. She walked in while I was fixing supper, but she didn't look happy. She looked… shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm pregnant," she said, and a smile suddenly broke out on her face. I paled and sat down on the stool by the counter.

"What? But we only just had sex again," I said, clearly not getting it.

"I was thinking at work, about my period. I should have started a few days ago. So I got to thinking about it, and realized that my last one was while you were at that convention, but it only lasted a few days, and it was rather light. Then I starting thinking about this past month. I've been more tired lately, I had zero sex drive, which wasn't really normal. I had that emotional outburst the other night.

"I called my doctor and she was able to see me if I left work a bit early. She did a blood test, and it came back positive. We're pregnant."

"But… how do you explain me having no sex drive at the same time?" I asked, desperately avoiding the reality of what she was telling me.

"I don't know. You and I have always been rather in tune when it comes to that. Are you hearing what I'm telling you, Eric? We're pregnant. We have a baby on the way."

"I'm just a little shocked," I said, and looked her in the eyes. "We're having a baby."

She nodded, still unmoving. She seemed a little hurt by my reaction, but she also knew that I was still processing the news and letting me work it out. We were going to have a baby. It was a bit sooner than we had originally planned, but not by much, and honestly, we were re-thinking waiting anyway. We'd had eight years together. Eight. It was time to become a family. A smile slowly grew on my face, and before I knew it I was off that stool and wrapping Sookie in my arms.

"We're having a baby," I repeated.

"Are you okay with this?" Sookie asked. I pulled back so I could look at her.

"Heck yes I am! It wasn't planned, but that doesn't matter. In the time we've been together you've shown me that not everything has to happen on a schedule, or in a certain way. It's not the end of the world; it's a new chapter in our lives."

She stepped into my embrace again and held me tight.

"I love you," she said, smiling against my chest.

"I love you. But if we ever want to take our honeymoon, we better do it now. Think you can get a couple weeks off work?"

"You're perfect, you know that?"

"I try," I smiled.


End file.
